Below are extracts from a speech by Ravinder Kaur - Young Sikhs (Leicester) made at the Sikh Lobby Day on Thursday 11 November. The Washington Post, Nov 3rd 1984… "The blackened stiff corpses lay against the walls… with their eyes open. The burnt victims were Sikh’s, identifiable only, by the steel bracelets worn on their wrists" On the 11th day of the 11th Month, the UK stands still to remember those who lost their lives for the freedom and justice of its people. Today we, the UK Sikh’s congregate here, because our fight for Freedom and justice still goes on. Twenty years after the government-sponsored anti-Sikh pogroms of November 1984, the most ruthless and bloody chapter in modern day Sikh history, the Indian government continues to deny survivors the rights to knowledge and justice. October 31st 1984 saw Indira Gandhi assassinated, her assassins, her bodyguards were both Sikh’s who were avenging India's earlier attacks on the most sacred Sikh shrine, The Golden Temple complex – what followed was quite possibly the worst atrocities Indian Sikhs have suffered since India gained Independence in 1947 – The state sponsored terrorism which followed revealed, for the first time, the true face of Indian "freedom, democracy and secularism." Politician’s met to discuss and finalise plans for anti-Sikh pogroms, uniform iron rods, crow bars and kerosene were provided to mobs; along with lists of Sikh family homes, businesses and Gurdwara Sahibs – The genocide mission began. Slogans of Blood for Blood resounded on national Television as the worlds largest "democracy" took steps to ethnically cleanse Delhi of Sikhs. "When a big tree falls, the world trembles" - The words of Rajiv Gandhi were insensitive and sealed the fate of Delhi’s Sikh residents – the world did not just tremble… The worlds largest democracy watched on as Government supported gangs and mobs burned thousands of Sikh’s alive, Sikh homes were destroyed, Sikh women were raped, and Gurdwara Sahibs and sacred scriptures of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji were burned. All this went on not just under the watchful eyes, but with the full blessing of some of the highest seats in Indian authority. The in-house invasions and public killing sprees went on for days, and the injustices were not stopped by police because the mobs involved in the violence were closely associated to the government. Somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000 affidavits were made as a result of the Pogroms, but not one arrest was made. Today, the injustices continue… Two congress party politicians, Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler have both been implicated by eyewitnesses – to this day neither have ever been successfully tried or prosecuted. To the contrary, since the events of 1984, India’s Sikhs have witnessed the re-election of the said MPs and Congress party officials - Unless the voices of survivors, and those who now only have us as a voice, are heard, history will eclipse their narratives and the silence of impunity will prevail. For two decades high-ranking members of the Congress party have enjoyed political impunity for this violence - Our reasons for being here today are to remember those mothers who lost their sons, those sisters who lost their husbands and us, who lost our fathers, and also to seek justice. For every day, and every year which passes without a conviction, injustice is still being served to the broken, shattered homes of our mothers and fathers in Delhi. We’re here to urge the powers that be, it’s time, you’ve waged your war against terror, now please, wage your war against injustice.